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Aston Martin Favors Hydrogen Over Hybrids, At Least For Now

When automakers like Aston Martin start experimenting with hydrogen power, it suggests the industry has reached a tipping point.

Luxury car companies’ longstanding disregard for fuel economy is becoming less pronounced. Even they have to care about miles per gallon now. The McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, both groundbreaking supercars with hybrid technology that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show, are just two of the latest examples.

Aston Martin doesn’t have a hybrid sports car. But it is looking to achieve the same goal of improving speed, power and performance while reducing consumption and emissions. Hydrogen is its alternative fuel of choice.

This past weekend Aston Martin ran a hydrogen-powered Rapide S in a four-hour race at the notoriously challenging Nurburgring racetrack in Germany. The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S has a 6.0-liter, twin-turbo, V12 engine that has been modified with the help of the hydrogen experts at Alset Global to run on gaseous hydrogen, gasoline, or a combination of both.

Aston Martin hasn’t confirmed final power output, but a spokesman says that it “should comfortably equal” that of the production Rapide S, whose V12 engine produces 550 horsepower.

Four carbon-fiber tanks in the racing version of the Rapide S collectively store about eight pounds of compressed hydrogen gas. Two are in the trunk and two are inside the cabin, next to the driver. When running on pure hydrogen, the car emits water vapor and little else from its tailpipes.

Aston Martin says this was the first time a hydrogen-powered car participated in a race at the Nurburgring. But it was only a test run. The main event is yet to come.

The Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S will be one of three Aston Martin entries in a grueling 24-hour endurance race to be held May 19 at the Nurburgring. It will compete in an experimental E1-XP class whose entrants run on alternative fuels.

Assuming all goes as planned, the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S will become the first hydrogen-powered car to complete a lap of an internationally sanctioned race. (This past weekend’s race was not internationally sanctioned.)

Ultimately, Aston Martin and Alset Global want to make a bigger impact with their hydrogen car, one that goes beyond motorsports. They would like to prove that there are other ways to reduce consumption and emissions besides downsizing vehicles or using electric power, two avenues most automakers have embraced.

Furthermore, because the hydrogen system Alset Global created works with most conventional combustion engines, it would be easier and less expensive to adopt than hydrogen fuel-cell technology. The key to Alset Global’s system is in how it controls the engine’s combustion process to work with the different fuels. The technology would add about a 15 percent premium to the cost of a car today.

“With our hybrid hydrogen system, we are providing a practical way to transition to the hydrogen economy,” says Jose Ignacio Galindo, CEO of Alset Global, which started in 2005 and is based in Graz, Austria.

Significant hurdles to widespread hydrogen use remain, the most notable of which is creating a hydrogen fueling network. Another challenge is that both gaseous and liquid hydrogen are harder to store than gasoline because they dissipate over time. If you park your hydrogen vehicle for a month, you might come back to find an empty fuel tank, depending on the type of hydrogen used and how it is stored.

David King, Aston Martin’s director of motorsports and special projects, says gaseous hydrogen is being used in the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, because, stored under high pressure, it does not experience the same troublesome dissipation, or “boil off,” that liquid hydrogen does. He says the big challenge with gaseous hydrogen is that it requires larger tanks for storage.

Many automakers have experimented with hydrogen as a fuel source for both combustion engines and fuel cells, including BMW, Honda, Mazda and Mercedes-Benz, to name a few. Some have said that the hydrogen-powered fuel-cell is among the most promising alternatives for a cleaner, greener future, but that the technology is still decades from being ready for mass adoption.

Aston Martin has no current plans to sell a hydrogen production car, the spokesman says. “But we believe this technology has great potential and support any exercises to explore it further. We feel that by doing something like this with the Hybrid Hydrogen Rapide S, it can at least help prompt further debate on the subject.”

The Rapide S is a new model for Aston Martin. Like the P1 and the LaFerrari, it debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Look for the 2014 Aston Martin Rapide S to hit showrooms around the time of the endurance race.

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